There’s no need to turn your nose up when you travel, in fact as Intrepid Express reader Paul Lynch explains, follow your nose and you can end up on some unforgettable adventures…
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single sniff” - not exactly the Lao Tzu quote that made the philosopher famous, but it’s close enough. Point being, do cities or countries possess a unique odour?
Travel should broaden the mind but more often dilates the nostrils, depending on the destination. You don’t have to possess the prominent feature of Cyrano de Bergerac to catch a whiff of the Guinness factory in Dublin, nor do you require a GPS to let you know that you have reached Faridabad, a sprawling industrial city north of New Delhi. The schnoz will let you know you have arrived.
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The Balinese have always been renowned for their wonderful hospitality, and Intrepid’s Chimene Barrett discovered what generous lengths they will go to for a birthday in Indonesia…
“My husband and I have been lucky to celebrate our birthdays in a few exotic places around the globe. This time we were enjoying the 9 day Bali Adventure and although my husband tried to hide the fact, we all knew he would be celebrating his birthday on this trip.
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If you want to enjoy a really memorable birthday celebration, then the first thing you should try to do is find a great buddy like Intrepid’s Marina Mildenhall…
“My friend Ange and I set out for an adventure in Cambodia in late December. We were to start the Heart of Cambodia trip on New Year’s Eve and only four days later, in Siem Reap, it would be Ange’s birthday.
Having spent a wonderful day at Angkor Wat, I had arranged with our leader Marcus to help me execute my birthday plan. I wanted a decorated cake, a tiara (Ange had to wear it throughout dinner) and a Cambodian flag for all of us new Intrepid friends to sign as a memento.
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Fashion is a fickle business, and it certainly doesn’t always make sense, but as Intrepid’s Laura Carroll discovered in China, sometimes the less you can understand, the better…
“One of my favourite things to do in foreign countries is to see how English is changed and interpreted, so I was excited to find in Beijing that there were examples of fractured English almost everywhere I looked. At restaurants, I found dishes on English menus were described quite poetically: “the bean curd dances with spinach in evenings” or “crab races the ginger and garlic.” At the local laundry I found spelling that also went amiss: “washing of rainiog in summer.” Local businesses and street signs are full of examples like these. But the best points of fractured English, in my opinion, occur on T-shirts.
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Sabah’s ultimate taste-bud sensation is the famous hinava tongii. A combination of Spanish mackerel, chilli, ginger and shallots in lime juice, with grated bambangan seed. This indigenous variety of mango is the secret ingredient, and Intrepid Express reader Gay Everitt lifts the lid on more local delights in Borneo…
“The bustling markets of the capital of Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, are crammed into acres of waterfront warehouses bursting with exotic foods and artefacts, all competing for space in the dimly-lit, but thankfully cool, interior. Street hawkers from nearby villages pursue you on the fringes and families watch with amusement from the decks of their fishing barges tied to the wharf.
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We asked Intrepid travellers to join in our anniversary celebrations and re-live their favourite trip moments. Tom Gettings won’t forget his India adventure, that was tops for real life experiences…
“Congratulations on 20 years. I wish I had discovered Intrepid earlier. It’s odd looking back on it that I have not taken that many Intrepid trips, but they provided the most memories and best travel stories. Your organisation also has a great sense of responsibility. Some of the most memorable stories came from my 2002 Unforgettable India trip.
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Intrepid has loved going with the flow in Thailand for twenty amazing years. Around every bend in the river there are more real life experiences to enjoy, even if they do take a turn for the wet, like Jennifer Mossman’s Thailand Hike, Bike and Raft adventure…
“We were expecting at least some of our group to get wet, because the bamboo rafts are a little wobbly and two people have to stand up to steer. What we didn’t anticipate was that the three-day water fights that take place in villages and cities to celebrate Songkran, Thai New Year, take place on rivers too!
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Loryne Atoui is embarking on a fantastic adventure in Europe and here’s a snippet from her blogging about the real life experiences she’s enjoying in Spain…
“The highlight of day two in Barcelona has to be the four-hour bike tour. The meeting place was two blocks away from my hotel and I got there with plenty of time to spare. I’d have to wait a little before we’d leave, so I wandered around the quaint neighborhood.
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You can travel on Intrepid’s Great Indochina Loop for probably less cash than you think, but group leader Dara Leonard wonders, “how do you put a price on real life experiences in a world beyond your own?”…
“We are so far from home right now”, was one of the excited comments from my group on our journey through South East Asia. We had set off that morning on what the locals call a “slow boat”, which takes two days to ply the Mekong River from Huay Xai, in northern Laos, to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Luang Prabang, Laos.
We stopped mid-day at a Laos village on the river bank to see a snapshot of what local life is like for many Lao people. This was quite a large village with approximately a thousand residents and as it was summer school holidays the children were there to greet our boat upon arrival. The kids were just as curious about us as we were about them and quickly it was broad smiles all round for the children and our group.
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